Ground-based experiments together with analytical studies are presently being conducted for levitated drops. Both acoustic and electrostatic techniques are being employed to achieve levitation of drops in a gaseous environment. The scientific effort is principally on the thermal and the fluid phenomena associated with the local heating of levitated drops, both at 1-g and at low-g. In particular, the thermocapillary flow associated with local spot heating is being studied.
Fairly stable acoustic levitation of drops has been achieved with some exceptions when random rotational motion of the drop persists. The flow visualization has been carried out by light scattering from smoke particles for the exterior flow and fluorescent tracer particles in the drop. The results indicate a lack of axial symmetry in the internal flow even though the apparatus and the heating are symmetric.
The theoretical studies for the past year have included fundamental analyses of acoustically levitated spherical drops. The flow associated with a particle near the velocity antinode is being investigated by the singular perturbation technique. As a first step towards understanding the effect of the particle displacement form the antinode, the flow field about the node has been calculated for the first time. The effect of the acoustic field on the interior of a liquid drop has also been investigated. The results predict that the internal flow field is very weak.
Sadhal, S.S., Trinh, E.H., Ground Based Studies of Thermocapillary Flows in Levitated Drops, 3rd Microgravity Fluid Physics Conference, NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH, CP 3338, pp. 515-520, June 13, 1996.